Archive for December, 2009

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Live It Up Tonight, But Be Safe

Go out and party it up tonight. Kick 2009 out the door, and welcome 2010 with champagne and dancing!  But be safe. Have a designated driver, take a cab, or if you live in Los Angeles, call YDrive LA.  www.ydrivela.com

policeman

I love this service because you don't have to leave your car behind.  With YDrive, they drive you home in your own car.  The driver arrives on a scooter, which is then put, completely sealed, in your trunk, then drives you home in your car.  That way, when you wake up with a huge headache and fuzzy tongue (happy new year) you can crawl to the couch and watch the parade instead of finding one of your hungover friends to drive you back to the bar for your car.

Their offices are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 888-401-DUI7 (888-401-3847) or you can send a message to director@ydrivela.com

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Happy 2010!

Auld Lang Syne from David Wilson on Vimeo.

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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Create A Little Peace In 2010

Life can be overwhelming at times for everyone. And if you’re a small business owner, chances are you’re overwhelmed more often than not. Knowing how to manage your emotional responses can make life so much more pleasant for you, and those around you.

yoga

I managed to make it through 2009 relatively stress-free. There are a couple of approaches I used and they worked well for me, so you may want to give them a try.

First, identify the situations that usually make you uptight, anxious, angry, etc… Just knowing that these are your hot buttons will help you to stay calm. I don’t know exactly why this is. Maybe in part, it’s because you can see the incident coming so you have a chance to gain your composure at the beginning, before your emotions get out of control.

The other thing I did was to step back and breathe. Just for a minute or two, deeply and slowly. When you feel the need to clear your head or regain control, breathe in to a count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, and exhale to a count of four. Do this twice and you should feel better immediately.

Lastly, get outside of your house or office on a regular basis. A study shows that the closer you live to nature, the less likely you are to suffer from anxiety. If you don’t live in the country, take a walk several times a week. This will decrease the likelihood that you’ll have big reactions to little things.

Try one or all of these tips. Consistency is key to their effectiveness. After a while they will become a habit and part of your routine. Bring some peace into your life in 2010 and your problems will feel a little bit smaller.

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Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Accomplish Your Goals In 2010

As you list out your goals for 2010, do you notice that this list looks a lot like your 2009 list? 

bullseye

Don’t just transfer the undone items to your new list, because this will play on your subconscious in a negative way.  A better approach is to take the most important goals from your old list and break them down into the most basic steps.  This will give you something manageable and measurable to work with.

For example, if your goal is to get your paperwork organized, break that into these specific steps:

1.  Get files, file boxes, labels, etc…

2.  Organize paperwork into categories (paid invoices, customer receipts, etc…) and then by month/year.

3.  Scan what you can, and then file and store anything you need to keep and shred the rest.

4.  Create an accessible space (a drawer or something like that) for current papers.

You can break the steps down even further, if you like.  When goals are too general they can feel overwhelming, and feeling overwhelmed frequently leads to procrastination.  Breaking the goal down into basic action steps will give you a starting point and a sense of direction.  So take a look at your unaccomplished goals of 2009 and start reducing them to the most basic steps possible.

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Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Happy Holidays!

2008 - TSO - Wish Liszt from Never Enough Lights on Vimeo.

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Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

How To Wrap A Gift

gift

*Unroll some of your wrapping paper face-down on a flat surface.

*Place your gift on the wrapping paper so that you can curl the loose end of the paper over the top of the box, covering one half of the gift.

*Then bring the other wrapping paper end (still attached to the roll) up to meet the paper end that you already wrapped over the top. Cut the paper so the two sides overlap a little.

*To figure out the best width lay the paper flat and place the gift on top of it, the proper amount of excess width on either side of the gift should be a little more than half the height of the gift. That way you will fully cover the gift.

*Have your tape ready and within reach. Lay the wrapping paper face-down on a flat surface. Place the gift face-down on the paper, wrap the paper around the gift as before and tape the ends of the paper together in the center of the box. You now have two side faces of the gift that are “open”. Pick one of these exposed sides to wrap next.

*Fold the left and right side flaps of this paper (as opposed to the top and bottom flaps) tightly in toward the center of the face. Press and smooth the paper over those left and right edges of the gift where you folded the paper inward. Get those edges nice and sharp. Beware of your box sliding away from you within its paper. This will cause you to have too much paper on your current side and too little on the other side.

*Now close the top and bottom flaps by folding them (bottom flap underneath the top flap) toward the center of that face of the gift. Tape the top flap to the bottom flap.

*Do the same to the other side of the gift.

*Now add a bow or some ribbon and a gift tag.

*If you still find gift wrapping to be a pain, you can always buy a gift bag.

xmas tree

Happy Holidays!

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Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Branding 101

I’m writing about this today so that 2010 (at least on MiniBizBuzz) can be Tiger-free. No matter how good your product or service is, your brand is fragile.

school

Tiger is still the greatest golfer EVER, but that is only one aspect of the business that is “Tiger Woods”, and apparently not the biggest one. When he took a year off to recover from knee surgery, the Tiger money machine kept chugging along. His image as a dedicated athlete, a loyal husband and loving father were the aspects that sold products. I know this has been discussed to death, but learn the lesson of his poor choices.

Live the characteristics you promote. Build your brand with sincerity and you will never have to worry about it all crashing down around you.

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Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Just Start Anywhere Redux

Have A Plan - Then Take The Leap from Beth Andrus on Vimeo.

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Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Use Pitch For PR To Get Your Story Out There

Pitch For PR ™ is a site that helps to get your pitch in front of reporters, bloggers and website managers. It is completely opposite of HARO (a service I love), because you submit your pitch to Pitch For PR and they send emails of the pitches to the reporters, instead of sending reporters’ requests to you.

Pitch For PR

Here’s how it works:

1 Submit your pitch (max 350 characters) using Pitch For PR’s form.

2 Submit a least one story topic, and no more than three, along with your pitch. Make sure these topics relate to your pitch and will showcase you as an expert.

3 Pitch For PR ™ emails 10-15 new pitches each weekday to their subscribers - legitimate media and website outlets.

4 You will be contacted by anyone who is interested in your story.

It is costs nothing to submit your pitch and it’s free to subscribe to their emails. If you are looking for content, sign up for their emails. And if you want some PR (who doesn’t?) polish up your pitch and send it in. Pitch For PR

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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Whole Foods Is Loaning Millions To Local Producers

I was looking to see if Whole Foods carried Justin’s Peanut Butter and I happened across this page on their site. Who knew that Whole Foods was providing up to $10 million in low-interest loans to small, local producers? To be eligible, your company must be a local (within a few miles of a WF store) producer of a high quality product, and they prefer that you have an existing relationship with Whole Foods, although that doesn't seem to be a requirement. You may not be a startup company. (Well, you may be one, but they won’t loan you money through this program.)

wf

Loans range from $1,000 to $100,000 to be used for investing in and growing your business. The current interest rate for their loans is from 5% to 9%, and there is a $65 processing fee. This fee covers the cost of obtaining a credit report and processing the loan documents and is only charged if your application is approved for further review. That is the only fee charged. The Local Producer Loan Program does not charge closing fees or prepayment fees.

I know this doesn’t apply to many of you, but I wanted to get the word out for those who do qualify. With credit lines and business loans drying up (for the moment), this is an amazing opportunity. Please pass this information on to others. Whole Foods Loan Program

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